AK crafts

Fall in Alaska means it's craft show time! In the past I've done a few shows but lately the work schedule for my real job has been so busy that I don't even try to do craft fairs anymore. I do miss being able to sell crafty stuff and interact with people at the booth, but hey, my day job pays the bills.

That being said, my friend Cindy and I hit up a BIG show at the new convention center downtown, the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center (D worked construction on this building -- I used to watch him on the web cam). This place is quite large, smack in the middle of downtown -- me and pretty much all of Anchorage are relieved that it's finished since traffic was a nightmare for over a year during construction.

Back to the craft show, vendors were everywhere in the Dena'ina Center and I finally broke down and purchased an "ak starfish" hoodie in brown:

I LOVE it -- it's soft, but not bulky like regular hoodies at all. The owner of the company imprints her designs on American Apparel clothing, so they're made in the U.S. -- yay! I've been eyeing the merchandise for a couple years now and am happy to have finally made a purchase.

An evening out

D and I hit Far North Bicentennial Park yesterday for some cross-country skiing. The weather was perfect -- it wasn't snowing, and the temperature hovered in the high teens. For the most part the trails were nicely groomed. Drift was so so excited to be out and about off-leash! He'd take off running down the trail in front of us, then race back to check in. We saw a couple other people and dogs out there, but for the most part we had the area to ourselves.

You can see my bulging pockets -- I need to get a flatter water bottle! D took this photo of me with the flash...


And the one below with the nighttime setting on my camera...this photo is more indicative of how dark (or light) it was outside at 4:45 pm. I didn't have to turn on my headlamp until after about 6 pm. The area behind me is called Powerline Pass - popular with skiiers, snowmachiners and snowshoers.

A really blurry photo of part of the Anchorage skyline at nightfall:

Can you keep a secret?

Okay, this is on the down-low peoples -- but a production company came to my medical place of employment recently and filmed one of our physicians for a show to be featured as part of the next "Alaska Week" on the Discovery Channel! The ER doc talked about hypothermia and the risks of falling into frigid Alaskan waters.
The producer told me that "Alaska Week" will be sometime in March or April of 2009, so be sure to mark your calendars and watch all the cool shows. Another program that this company is producing includes a bunch of crazy "hot video" clips that people have sent in about animal attacks, glaciers falling, rescues, and other Alaska drama.


For the most part I enjoyed "Alaska Week" 2008 -- there were some good shows, a few were duds. I expected a bit more from MythBusters but it was entertaining nonetheless. Deadliest Catch is always exciting. Those dudes are crazy. I know D is tougt and would be able to hold his own on a crabber or fishing boat (the paycheck would be sweet!), but I would worry about him day and night.

3 cool things - 11/20/08

My friend Em turned me onto this site, but if you are doing ANY traveling be sure to hit up Trip Advisor first! There are member submitted reviews for hotels, restaurants, activities and everything travel-related. It's amazing and has really saved me from making a big reservation mistake in more than one instance.

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Some neat product labels to download for your baked goods, canned food, crafts and ahem, home brew.

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Mochi Ice Cream!!! -- haven't tried this yet, bit is so on my list, peoples. And it looks pretty simple (famous last words). If you try it, please email me and let me know how the mochi goodness turned out!

Pet star

Don't mind me, I'm just the "handler"...


Drift and I both got paid today as part of the tv spot he appeared in -- although you can see who the important party is in this relationship.

No autographs please

Did you know that our dog is a star? Today Drift will be starring in his second tv commercial for a local telecommunications company. I wish I could say he won the honor by beating out hundreds of other dogs during a screen test and agility trial -- but in reality one of my good friends is the production manager for a company that films tv spots, documentaries, etcetera, etcetera. Drift got the part by being a light colored, well-mannered dog. Still, not too shabby, right?





The first spot was filmed earlier this summer and ran all the time - we actually got tired of seeing it. Once, Drift caught a glimpse and actually barked at himself on tv. He likes to sit and watch the tube with us -- very often he'll get all worked up over the animals onscreen. He hates horses and can tell the difference between them and say, an elk or moose. It's pretty amusing.

This new tv spot should start running a few weeks I think --I'll try to get my friend to burn me a copy of both commercials and then they will get posted here. Peoples, now you can say that you know a tv star!

'Lil cabin in the woods

My jaw is on the floor -- these people did an amazing job fixing up this decrepit Alaskan cabin. Well, they call it a cabin but it seems more like a little house on the water. I've seen some REAL Alaskan cabins!



I'm JEALOUS! Imagine waking up to that scenery every morning. I'll bet it's super quiet and peaceful in their neck of the woods. Here is the link to the slideshow.

Silhouette art

Neat, neat, neat: http://silhouettemasterpiecetheatre.com/

And funny...

Frosty day

A nice day today -- although a a bit chilly, around 17 degrees. The trees have all turned white -- called hoar frost. It's gorgeous.

M.I.A.

Oh my, I've been derelict in my posting duties. That's what a nice vacation and the subsequent busy time at work will do to a blogger. Apologies all around, peoples.

A lot of websites have gotten their hands on the Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) sales ads and I've been perusing them for good deals. I'm currently in the market for an elliptical workout machine and once again my love of in-depth research is making it hard to narrow the choices down to just one lucky winner. So the search continues. I will probably get a NordicTrack elliptical that will be on sale at Sears on Black Friday, with an extended warranty. I don't need to be lugging a big heavy machine back to store if it breaks down. Those suckers can come to my house and fix it for me!

Last year we got up crazy early to visit Home Depot on Black Friday. It wasn't busy by any means but the under cabinet mounted microwaves we wanted were pretty much flying off the showroom floor. We got one for the house and one for the condo (which I sold last year). That was a really great deal, but I haven't seen anything too amazing this year.

3 Cool Things - 11/14/08

Tiny Prints -- we just used this company for some holiday invites here at work and they turned out really, really nice. The cost was reasonable as well.

Here's a coupon if you would like to try them out: Save 10% of one future purchase of $40 or more at Tiny Prints. Enter the promo code TPWINTER at checkout. Offer expires February 1, 2009.

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Do you have questions? Metafilter has the answers!

Ask Metafilter!

If anything, it's entertaining to read people's responses...

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Free online polaroid image maker:

The site creates polaroid-like images from your digital photos. Bittersweet because Polaroid has discontinued the original cameras -- no one needs them anymore since the digital format has taken over the world...

Uncle Ted's house party

An interesting blog by Juror #11 from Senator Ted Stevens' recent trial in Washington, D.C.

This woman replaced Juror #4 when 4 left to attend her "father's funeral," also known as the "Breeder's Cup." What a fruitcake!


People have asked me why the government is making such a big deal about the house renovations portion when it looks like nothing much was done. Well peoples, jacking up a house in Alaska is done all the time because it basically DOUBLES the size. Heck, my parents did it to one of their homes back in the day. Many times it's cheaper than buying a new house, especially if you like the current location of your abode. Uncle Ted's house doesn't look very fancy from the outside, but it's fairly typical for the ski resort area (Girdwood) that the Stevens' live in.

One of my Alaskan friends says it's ok for Ted to have accepted the gifts and renovations because he's done so much for our state -- then she said that anyone who has taken office supplies is operating under the same principal. Sorry friend, but stuffing a sheaf of copy paper and stack of hi-lighters into your purse is not the same as taking $250,000 worth of stuff.

More vacation photos

If I remember correctly, this was Bahia Honda State Park...

No Name Pub -- lots of character, good beer and excellent pizza! Even saw some little Key Deer on the way home.

Some fishermen gave me some scraps to feed the big fishies around the docks.

American Gothic, Halloween style! In Key West...

Our first Bloody Mary of the day!

Roosters were everywhere in Key West...walking around the restaurants like they owned the place.

Delicious seafood...


Unfortunately I am in one of the 50% of Asians who are stricken with the dreaded "Asian Glow" -- the red flush that appears when we drink. Mine starts at about 2 beverages - making me look like I've had around, say, 12 shots of tequila.

What a great trip -- can't wait to check out the Keys again! Thanks Em and Slee!

Let it snow...

Maybe this stuff will stick around and we'll finally be able to pull out the x-c skis...

It's hard to tell in the photo but the snow is coming down pretty hard. I'm preparing for a 45-60 minute commute home, which usually runs about 25-30 minutes.

She's baaaaack

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, but it was totally worth it people. I spent a lovely few days in the Florida Keys with two awesome girlfriends. We laid out in the warm sun, drank amazing beverages and had some seriously fantastic meals.




Look at this view from the condo we stayed in!


I don't think anyone ate better than us girls this past weekend! Conch fritters, lobster reubens, oysters, shrimp -- oh my mouth is watering now just thinking about it. And my girls are wine afficionados, so we had some smooth reds straight out of Em's beautiful glass decanter. They also drank me under the table -- sigh, I've fallen a long way since my sorority days. :-)


I'll post more photos tomorrow, promise.